ECC approves Rs149bn payments to IPPs, KE

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has approved Rs149 billion for the power sector to be paid to the IPPs and K-Electric in the current fiscal year.

The meeting of the ECC presided over by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail was informed by the Power Division that as per agreement, IPPs’ second and final installment was required to be paid in the first week of the next month.

The ECC was requested for: (i) approval of Rs96.133 billion supplementary grant,(ii) Payment of Rs78.65 billion as second instalment (60 per cent payment) under payment mechanism to the 11 IPPs under 2002 Power Policy; (iii) payment of Rs8.771 billion as second instalment (60 per cent payment) under Payment Mechanism as approved by the ECC on 8th February 2021 to the Nishat Chunian Power Limited (NCPL), an IPP under 2002 Power Policy.

In case, payables to the NCPL by the CPPA are less than Rs8.771 billion after securing Rs8.36 billion, pursuant to undertaking on the day of payment, then payment of the second instalment will be adjusted downwards accordingly;(iv) payment of Rs8.712 billion as the second instalment (60 per cent payment) to TNB Liberty Power, an IPP under 1994 Policy.

Sources said that the Power Division in a summary told the ECC meeting that the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) and the ECC had approved the payment mechanism and the agreements (including the Master Agreement) with the IPPs in a meeting held on 8th February 2021 and the same was ratified by the Cabinet on 9th February 2021.

The ECC has also allowed, on another summary of Power Division, settlement of payables to government-owned power plants at par with the IPPs release of Rs17 billion during the current financial year 2022 as an investment in the DISCOs for payment to the RLNG-based public power plants (Haveli Bahadur Shah, Bhikki, and Balloki Power Plants) to meet the cash requirement.

Power sector subsidies, payments to IPPs/GPPs: Rs516bn may be set aside as provisional IBCs

Ministry of Energy, Power Division submitted another summary on notification of quarterly tariff adjustments (QTAs) of K-Electric Limited and associated financial impact.

The ECC after a detailed discussion allowed utilizing an available budget of Rs36.948 billion as advance subsidy in the fiscal year 2022 for onward release to CPPA-G due to paucity of time.

The ECC considered and approved a supplementary grant of Rs1,224.41million in favour of the Ministry of Interior for payment to the families of deceased/Shaheed employees under the Prime Minister’s Assistance package in order to support the families of Shuhda/deceased of the ICT Police who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.

The ECC approved Rs6,133.314 million in favour of the Federal Directorate of Immunization (FDI) to procure vaccines for uninterrupted supply to the provinces in order to support the immunization programme for children under one-year age against 10vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs).

The ECC also approved Rs3,096.05 million for the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan for further release to AJ&K Government for permanent settlement of the Illegally Indian Occupied J&K refugees stranded in the AJ&K.

On a summary submitted by the Ministry of Housing and Works for allocation of additional funds for repair and maintenance of Ministers’ Enclave, Islamabad, the ECC rejected the proposal due to austerity measures taken by the present government. Further, millions of funds (Rs87.5 million in 2018-19, Rs4.8 million in 2019-20, and Rs50 million in 2020-21) have already been utilized on the repair and maintenance of the Ministers’ Enclave by the previous government from 2018 to 2021.

The ECC also approved following supplementary/technical supplementary grants;(i) Rs5,891.9 million in favour of the Ministry of Interior; (ii) Rs96.133 billion to the Power Division for payment to the IPPs as second instalment (60 per cent payment); (iii) Rs40 million for the media publicity campaign by the NCOC;(iv) Rs125.8 million in favour of the Cabinet Division;(v) Rs3,750 million for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet its budgetary shortfall;(vi) Rs379 million in favour of the MoIT&T for Special Communication Organization (SCO);(vii) Rs5 billion to Pakistan Railway to settle a major portion of its pending liabilities with directions to make Pakistan Railways a profitable business entity.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022